Ian Machado Garry has expressed his willingness to settle disagreements with Jack Della Maddalena.
Earlier this month, Della Maddalena claimed the welterweight title with a unanimous decision win over Belal Muhammad at UFC 315. Garry served as the backup fighter for that event. Following the bout, Della Maddalena`s coach made critical remarks about “The Future,” suggesting he needed to improve his finishing ability. This prompted a sharp rebuttal from Garry during a recent interview with Ariel Helwani.
“In his last four fights, Jack has had one finish,” Garry stated. “So he`s telling me I need to get into the gym and I need to find some power. He got beat up pretty bad… Belal ain`t nowhere near the striker I am… I`ll bend his nose backward the way it should be.”
Garry continued, “His coach should stay out of this. My son giving him M&M`s is a playful, harmless joke, having a laugh about him missing weight. It was all good. It was all a bit of banter. I`m not flying around the world trying to be a superstar, trying to be someone famous. I`m flying around the world ready to fight. If I`m needed, I`ll show up and I`ll do what I need to do to fight. If he`s the champion, I`ll take the belt from his hands.”
Garry`s comments reference an interaction prior to UFC 315 where his son offered candy to Della Maddalena, a lighthearted jab about potential weight issues. This led to an unusually harsh response from Della Maddalena, who reportedly questioned if the child was truly Garry`s son. Garry now appears ready to make Della Maddalena accountable for that remark.
“There`s a playful joke about a child giving a fighter M&M`s with the baseline comedy of, `Take these, eat these, miss weight, and my daddy will step in and win a world title.` That`s just a laugh,” Garry explained. “It`s low-level.”
“Then to go out there and say the comments that he said was just immature. It shows that he`s very sensitive. Because if he`s said something like that, which he`s never acted out of his character, which means what I was doing on fight week irritated him enough to trigger him to say something like that. It means when I do fight him, I`m going to open up a whole can of irritation. Because I reckon he`s mentally weak. I can get in his head. But I`ll never stoop so low as to mention his child and his children and his wife, because I don`t need to. I walk in there in the octagon. I`ll punch the mouth off him. I`ll take his belt. I don`t need to say anything.”
Despite Garry`s readiness, a fight with Della Maddalena doesn`t seem imminent. Della Maddalena is expected to defend his title against lightweight champion Islam Makhachev next, although a date has not yet been finalized. Given the crowded welterweight division, Garry plans to remain active to solidify his position for a title shot.
Regarding the potential timeline for Della Maddalena vs. Makhachev, Garry speculated, “I think they`re going to fight, probably October-ish… So that will probably be the date. When it comes to me, I`m going to continue to be active. I`m never going to stop. I`m a fighter, I want to be active. I want to beat everybody up. I want to prove that I`m the best, and I don`t need a belt wrapped around my waist to prove that I`m the best. I need to keep beating the best fighters in the world and that belt will come in time.”
